People have always looked up at the stars and wondered how they move across the sky. Astronomers know that the starts move counter clockwise around Polaris, also know as the North Star. They know that the stars make one trip around the North Star every 24 hours. That is of course due to the Earth's daily rotation.
But, if you ask the everyday person why the North Star is special, many will guess that it is because it is the brightest star in the sky or the nearest star. And, the have no idea that the other stars all rotate around the North Star as they do.
The problem is that the stars move so slowly that few people have the patience it takes to witness the motion of the stars for themselves.
To help others to understand this basic fact of nature, some people have taken time-lapse photos of the sky and then later used them to help people to understand. The pictures show circular trails of the stars as they encircle the North Star.
Planetariums like the Adler Planetarium in Chicago have built special theaters for showing movies of the night sky on a huge domed ceiling.
There exists computer software and apps that can simulate the motion of the stars over time.
But, the problem with the movies at the Adler Planetarium, the time lapse photos, and the computer apps is that they all require you to view something other than the sky. You must watch a movie, view a photo, or see a computer simulation. None of them allows the observer to look directly at the stars and observe their motion in real time.
This invention is the first instrument that allows people to observe celestial objects, and easily assign them a set of Hour Number and Ring Number coordinates defining their current position, and then observe them again later and assign them a second set of Hour Number and Ring Number coordinates in an effort to understand how far the celestial object has moved and in which direction.
Users of this invention will witness that the stars move counter-clockwise around the North Star. For every hour that passes, the Hour Number as measured by this invention changes by exactly one, while the Ring Number remains constant. In that way, the Sky Dial can be used to measure the passage of time by looking at the stars at night, just as a Sun Dial can be used measure the passage of time during the day. Users of this invention will also witness that the North Star is the only star that never moves.